Your Kanji Method

So.. this was bound to happen. How do you learn Kanji (if you've already started doing so)? Please post here and enlighten us with your methods.

Here's mine: My "main" studying gets done through anki (spaced repetition flashcard software). I use an excellent kanji textbook series called Kanji in Context (published by the Japan Times) which is divided into lessons of about 10 or so kanji each. The great thing about the series is that not only does it teach you vocabulary (already an improvement on Heisig imo), but it also gives you sentences in which these words are used (the "context" part) which makes the memorization of new kanji and vocabulary considerably simpler in my opinion. When I'm not cramming for exams, I try to do 1 lesson a day, first I read through the lesson and then I make flashcards in anki with all the vocabulary and sentences from the workbook. Then I let spaced repition work its magic(k).

Apart from that I have a few books and Japanese games I'm working through - reading the first Harry Potter book at the moment, which is especially fun as I've read it in three other languages already I also played Crisis Core on the psp for a bit and plan to go through some of the older Final Fantasy ROMs and perhaps Chrono Trigger too.In my weekly Japanese lessons we tend to go through newspaper articles, which is quite a lot more difficult than any other reading I do, but with a bit of review certainly good practice.

I've tried a variety of different approaches. But sometimes certain things get in the way.例えば

When I first started, I used to make lists of kanji and assorted vocab and run through them many times a day. It was pretty effective in the beginning, actually, but it suffers obvious drawbacks as the number of kanji/words you want to learn increases dramatically.

After that, I tried my hand at smart.fm (and some other smaller sites most people won't have heard of), although I found the interface limiting at times, and the re-designing of the site wrecked some of my lists, which was discouraging.

I also tried working through some kanji books, which went well for a while, but my studies fell away when I became overly busy with other work.

Recently, I've moved onto anki. I had used it on and off in the past but have never had the dedication till now to stick with it every single day. I'm keeping up with reviews and it's working pretty well. I try to include a given kanji / word with a sentence so that it appears in context. That said, I find that I still learn / remember much better when I'm also doing my own behind-the-scenes work in MSWord. I organise more difficult compound kanji into groups that share the same characters / readings. For me, this cements the readings in a way I personally don't find while I'm using anki, and it seems to help when I see a new kanji with the same character, etc.

People debate the merits, but I also find using mnemonic devices quite useful...At times, knowing the "core" meaning of basic characters from my earlier studying attempts also helps a lot. At the end of the day, the way in which I actually learn and remember kanji is an amalgamation of different, sometimes conflicting schools of thought. It's a bit messy, but not everyone learns the same, I guess.

I bought the first Heisig book. Haven't got very far yet, because I got distracted. It seems like a good way to begin... although I'm kind of upset that one has to make up their own stories in the later parts of the book. Seems like a copout to me. Where can we get Kanji in Context? Can you guys explain Anki a bit more and where to get it? thanks!

Anki is a flashcard program that uses spaced repetition, like smart.fm or mnemosyne to optimize your learning experience. So basically, you make or download "cards" to teach you something you want to remember (eg. vocab or a kanji) and then the program will manage these cards and show them to you in spaced intervals. The better you remember them, the longer the period before it will next show you that card.

Unlike smart.fm, with anki you can download program, which means that you don't have to wait for the server to load each item. You can also completely customize the items and the way you're studying. Anki also has a plug-in that allow you to actually download all the smart.fm material in anki format, should you desire it. If you decide to use anki as your SRS (spaced repetition system) of choice, you'll probably also want to download Japanese Support for Anki itself, too.

Getting to grips with anki can be a bit challenging at first. You might want to try smart.fm (which is a lot easier to get into) first and see how you like it.

I organise more difficult compound kanji into groups that share the same characters / readings. For me, this cements the readings in a way I personally don't find while I'm using anki, and it seems to help when I see a new kanji with the same character, etc.

all together because if I just see them in anki my brain recognizes a more general shape at first, and thus I can get confused if I'm not paying attention to each specific component. Having them all lined up next to each other helps me learn the differences between similar kanji more easily so that I recognize them properly and don't mistake one kanji for another.

I then also arrange lists of compounds that share radicals or characters to help learn the readings. E.g.